Ben Stokes has dropped a heavy hint that next month Jacob Bethell will reclaim his English test place – news that Ollie Pope or Zak Crawley could place in the shooting line.
Bethell will be 4,500 miles away on Thursday when England stands against Zimbabwe in Trent Bridge, who have been liberated to stay in the Indian Premier League with Royal Challengers Bangalore.
But the strong impression that the 21-year-old made in his debut series against New Zealand before Christmas, when he struck with fearlessness and verve in an unknown position at number three, is not worn out.
That means that he has a considerable chance of falling back to the side for the series of five games against India, to set up the pressure on Crawley and Pope.
Both men have been first-choice players in the era of ‘Bazball’, but have endured large fluctuations in shape and the crunch time can be imminent.
Crawley was on average only 8.66 in New Zealand and had mixed return for Kent in Division Two of the Rothesay County Championship, while Vice-captain Pope has difficulty becoming a consistent performer in the crucial number three position.
The couple will be desperate to close a further check with command display against Zimbabwe, but the approval of Bethell’s Stokes suggested that they might be fighting in one place.
“We chose the team for Zimbabwe that Beth would be impressed, so it wasn’t that much of a problem for us … But who knows what happens in the summer?” Stokes said.
“If you are smart enough, (looking at) the series that Beth had in New -Zeeland, and of course he will be back in the UK for that India series … so I think you put two and two together and you probably know what will happen.
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“If you are talking about recording a position, Beth has done himself the world of good because of the performances he has done there to be part of our plans in the future. It’s great to have a versatile player like Beth at your disposal.”
Whatever way the selectionilemma goes between three, it will fall for head coach Brendon McCullum or director Rob Key to pass on the decision.
“I am not doing the good news, I am not doing the bad news,” Stokes said.
“All those conversations continue with Keysy and Baz. That comes back to how I wanted that kind of role in my captain. I have to concentrate on the group and the 11 boys on the field.”
Another factor in favor of Bethell is his ability to bowle left-arm spider, something that is known to England to appreciate and that neither Pope nor Crawley can match.
The number one slow bowler of England, Shoaib Bashir, has endured a difficult start to the summer. He was sent on loan by Somerset to Glamorgan and has difficulty making an impact, in just two wickets at 152 points each with the Welsh side.
“It’s so difficult with Bash,” said Stokes.
“I called him a while ago and said,” Look, I know it can be difficult if you are a spinner in England and then you will be lent to play. “
“It is not clearly ideal. But I said,” If you take where you were last year, you didn’t even play. “He learns to work, as we constantly say.”
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